For most bands, the process of experimentation involves infusing more traditional song structures with weirder, or less familiar sonic elements. Not so for Iowa’s Slipknot. All Hope Is Gone , the metal neuftet’s fourth full-length, finds them further mining the seam that produced 2004’s Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses , adulterating their caustic, percussion-heavy take on thrash metal with acoustic guitars and anthemic choruses. Present too, though, is a heaviness that harkens back to 2001’s aggressive Iowa , meaning the likes of "Psychosocial" and "Dead Memories" mix big, inclusive vocal hooks with bulldozing low-end and savage percussion breakdowns set to arcane time signatures. Nor is it all set to formula: "Butcher’s Hook", for instance, sounds nothing like anything in Slipknot’s catalogue to date. It is a slamming funk-metal track not unlike The Rollins Band, with broiling! anti-establishment lyrics and a huge call-and-response chorus. The occasional Nickelback-like chorus might appall the diehards, but Slipknot are still stretching themselves, and All Hope Is Gone stands up to anything in their catalogue. --Louis Pattison
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